Full Skies & Smørrebrød

Home Sweet Home. As soon as I got word that the airports were opening up again I took an early morning train to Nice to try to get on stand-by. The gods were smiling on me when an hour before the flight, they issued me a boarding pass. It is really nice to be home. Not to say that my trip was not SUPER FANTASTIC! Southern France is a dream. But when earlier in the week people began to panic about the volcano eruption and lack of mobility around the continent, the mood was quite somber. I was so lucky to be living with the most wonderful host mother who was kind, helpful, comforting and truly a friend. She took me in as her own. She drove me to magical places like Eze and St. Paul to keep my mind off the situation. She spoiled me rotten with her fabulous cooking (crepes, calamari, etc.) and taught me so much about her relaxed approach to life.

Highlights? Being by the ocean, hearing the signing accent of souther french people saying "Au revoir" and living out my dream of studying French in France.

Cannes and Nice are wonderful cities full of life, culture and beauty. But the true gems are the little towns that are scattered on the site of mountains. St. Paul is an artists paradise. Dozens of art galleries filled with the most amazing work - all very accessible to us common people.

Eze is a medieval town on the peak of a mountain. The views from up top are incredible!

On the flight home yesterday I noticed a heck of a lot of air traffic. It seems that the airlines are working double time to get everyone home as quickly as possible. My hats are off to all the ground people working double time to get stranded passengers on flights - the ladies I dealt with at the airport in Nice were working as a team, keeping long lists of people and working creatively to find a solution for everyone. All while providing service with a smile.

On the lunch menu today: smørrebrød and danish pastries. Being in Denmark never felt so good.

Trains, planes & automobiles...

Another week in Antibes! Never in my life have I been around such displacement. It's crazy to hear how many people are stranded. Spend the afternoon running around getting things sorted for myself. The French trains are starting to run (thank goodness!) so I now have a back up plan to get home by the weekend if the airports are not open yet. I have no choice but to sign up for another week of class to stay busy and profiter un petit peu.

Will try to get some more pics up later in the week.

Pray for strong winds to get these ashes to go away!!!

What a view!

Just some snippets of my first few days here... I called Chris yesterday to confirm my return to this beautiful part of France. Sooner rather than later! Aside from the challenging never ending strikes of train personnel and the lack of 'accueil' of the tourism office (when you walk in they look at you like you are disturbing their well being!) This place is magnificent. Yesterday, I went to Cannes - the energy that city brews is incredible. It may be by the large amount of wealth and wanna-be's that frequent the area but it still did not deter me from loving it. Ici on trouve vraiment la joie de vivre!

La belle ville d'Antibes

It is now my fourth day in France and the French is flowing. They say you loose 20% of the language for each year that you don't use it... that means that since I graduated in 2002 my french technically should have disappeared! Glad to report it has not. Antibes is spectacular... the views of the ocean are amazing, the old city centre full of history, the Picasso museum outstanding and it goes on and on. Funny to notice the differences between Denmark and the south of France. For example, it is next to impossible to ride a bike in Antibes, cars drive way too fast for my comfort and the sidewalks are about two feet wide.... they also stop suddenly. I rented a bike for a few days but basically carried it around with me all day so it proved to be quite inefficient... à pied it will be.

Stay tunned for photos to come...

APRIL 8th - not today's date, but Chris' Birthday!!!

We had a very relaxing and long Easter weekend. Almost a little too long... everything was closed for many days but we managed to keep entertained with the simple things... nice bike rides, cooking nice meals, having the company of new friends. I think we clocked at least 8 hours of cooking time one day... that's a lot of time in our cozy little kitchen. Chris wanted to make his own easter chocolates this year, like in true Danish fashion:

The weather is now beginning to change... although we get teased when the sun is out because it is comfortable & warm but as soon as the sun sets it feels like winter again. I have also decided to retire my monthly train pass in hopes for getting in shape for the summer. It's only a 10 km bike ride into the city... EACH WAY! And it's only been a few days since I started this little test and I am utterly wiped out after all the exercise.

We celebrated Chris' birthday yesterday by doing what he does best... drinking beer! Before hand we went to a really cozy café where they serve a traditional Nordisk brunch. Had some nice Icelandic cuisine and enjoyed sitting in a bastion from the 1700's.